Nobody wanted to bowl to Chris Gayle

In watching sport there are some momentous occasions that one gets to witness. Last week in Bengaluru there was one such when Chris Gayle simply took apart the Pune team’s attack to get not only the fastest century in T20 cricket, but also the highest score in the ultra short format of the game.

He was awesome and it’s no surprise that at one stage nobody wanted to bowl to him and that every time Aaron Finch, the Pune captain, looked at one of his bowlers they were looking somewhere else making sure they didn’t catch the skipper's eye.

Some of the sixers were huge and the one that got him to his hundred struck the roof of the north end of the Chinnaswamy stadium. Imagine 17 sixers in the innings and 13 boundaries. With very little running between the wickets done, it was no wonder that he looked fresh when he walked off at the end of the 20 overs.

That batsmen tend to dominate the format is well known fact and that’s why it's a great asset to have bowlers who can make the difference in the match. Not too many teams have them but those who have will invariably be the teams to watch out for.

Dale Steyn for the Sunrisers and the spinners Amit Mishra also of the Hyderabad team and Sunil Narine for Kolkata have been weaving their magic. If they get a decent total of about 140 to defend, then they can bowl their teams to a win but often we have seen batsmen letting them down.

Shane Watson is a devastating batsmen who has been in indifferent form for some time now. He was not as successful as Australia would have wanted in the series against India and that was one of the main reasons the Aussies were unable to put up a big total on board. He came back to form with a smashing century but that was not enough as the Chennai team outscored the Rajasthan team in the final over.Mike Hussey has been batting well and scoring consistently and getting his team off to a brisk start. Kings Eleven Punjab found a new hero in David Miller who along with young Mandeep Singh took their team to a unlikely win and once again the Pune team were the sufferers.

The Pune team have made a habit of losing from winning positions and so find themselves looking down the barrel along with Delhi who after their superb win over Mumbai have lapsed back to losing matches.

The batsmen dominated the rankings this week and its no surprise that Chris Gayle with his big hitting and huge hundred is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.